Arctomecon merriamii

Arctomecon merriamii is a species of poppy known by several common names, including desert bearpoppy, white bearpoppy, and great bearclaw poppy. It is native to the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada.

Arctomecon merriamii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Papaveraceae
Genus: Arctomecon
Species:
A. merriamii
Binomial name
Arctomecon merriamii

This is a taprooted perennial herb producing stout, waxy stems 20 to 50 centimeters tall. Hairy pale green leaves with rounded teeth are located around the base of the plant. The inflorescence at the tip of each stem is composed of one white poppy flower with six petals up to 4 centimeters long and green sepals covered in long, white hairs. The fruit is a capsule up to 3.5 centimeters long containing many tiny seeds.

Botanist Frederick Vernon Coville was first to identify the plant, and named it after naturalist Clinton Hart Merriam, who accompanied Coville on the Death Valley Expedition, the first of a series of expeditions funded by the US Congress to map the flora (phytogeography) and fauna of the United States.[1]

References
  1. "Death Valley Expedition (1891)", Historic Expeditions, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.


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